Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards – 2016

What Are Balance Transfer Credit Cards?

Many credit cards offer balance transfers as a way for you to reduce the amount of interest you’ll pay on large debts.

Instead of paying the high interest rate you’ll find on most credit cards (14% – 22% APR for many) you’ll be able to pay off your balance over a fairly long period for free, at a 0% rate. Balance transfers are subject to a separate APR than normal purchases, though the rate happens to be the same in many cases.

You can also usually transfer other kinds of debts to credit cards, like personal loans, auto loans, student loans – pretty much any loan that requires a monthly payment. Just ask your card issuer if it’s possible.

Here’s an example: say you have a $5,000 balance on a credit card, and your interest rate is 17%. If you want to pay off that balance over 24 months, you’ll end up paying over $900 in interest by the time you’re done.

Instead you could transfer that balance to another card, preferably one with a 0% interest rate. Then you can continue to make payments, but you won’t be incurring all that interest anymore. That’s an easy way to save almost a thousand bucks.

Should I Get A Balance Transfer Credit Card?

Not all balance transfer offers are equal. Most cards will charge a fee, and there are limitations on when exactly you need to make the transfer. Always read your card terms very carefully so you know what to expect from a balance transfer, or you could be in for a nasty surprise if things don’t go the way you thought they would.

We’ve picked out 3 credit cards with the best balance transfer offers available on the market. These cards were chosen for their fees – either nonexistent or low – and the interest rates you’ll get on your transfer.

These cards don’t offer rewards, like points or cash back, for the purchases you make. Instead, they’re fairly simple and are best used just to pay down a large balance at a lower interest rate than you were previously paying.

Let’s take a look at the 3 cards with the best balance transfer terms available today:

Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards

This is one of the most popular balance transfer cards, if not the most popular.

And it’s easy to see why:

No fee for balance transfers when made within the first 60 days (3% fee after that, $5 min)

0% APR for 15 months on balance transfers and purchases

No annual fee

No penalty APR

Free FICO® Score

You’ll get pretty much the best deal available with this card: a no-fee balance transfer, and a full 15 months to pay off the balance. The amount of money you can transfer will depend on the credit limit you are issued, with a maximum of $15,000.

This card should be completely free to use for those 15 months because there’s no annual fee. You also won’t have to worry about a high penalty APR if you make a late payment (though you’ll still be charged for late payments).

You’ll also be able to easily check your FICO Score for free whenever you’d like. This is a nice benefit to have, especially if you have enough debt that you need to do a balance transfer. If that’s the case, this service lets you monitor your credit to see it improve as you pay off your debt.

This is a very unique credit card. Instead of being passive users, cardholders can actually discuss the card terms and vote to make changes, with some limits.

We won’t get into that here, but you should know that the card terms are subject to change by the vote of the community. If you’re interested in this card, you can check out our Review of the Barclaycard Ring MasterCard.

Like the Chase Slate above, you won’t be charged a fee for your balance transfer. However, that balance will then be subjected to the 8.25% APR, so you’ll end up paying some interest. Just make sure that this 8.25% rate is lower than the one you had before, and you’ll be saving money compared to your old account.

You can only transfer a balance that is less than your credit limit.

There’s no annual fee to pay for this card, no penalty APR to worry about, and you’ll be able to see your FICO Score for free whenever you’d like. This is a great asset for people paying off large balances because you can easily see how your debt is affecting your credit (which is good motivation to pay).

You’ll also have the potential to earn some rewards with this card, depending on how responsibly the community as a whole pays its debts. This would be a nice treat for a card you’re using to pay down a balance, but you can’t count on being able to earn this every year.

The Simplicity Card lives up to its name. There isn’t much to it, other than some very good interest rates and terms.

Take a look:

0% APR on balance transfers and purchases for 21 months (for balance transfers made within the first 4 months)

3% fee for balance transfers ($5 min)

No annual fee

No late fees

No penalty APR

You’ll pay a 3% fee for your balance transfer, but after that you’ll have an incredible 21 months to pay off that balance at zero interest. This is the longest 0% APR period you’ll be able to find (aside from the Citi Diamond Preferred® Card, also at 21 months).

You won’t have to worry about the usual fees with this card, so it should be completely free to use, other than the balance transfer fee (there is a fee for returned payments, but you should be able to avoid those easily).

ADVERTISER DISCLOSURE: Credit Card Insider is an independent, advertising supported website. Credit Card Insider receives compensation from some credit card issuers whose offers appear on our site. Compensation from our advertising partners does not impact how and where their products appear on our site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within review lists. CreditCardInsider.com has not reviewed all available credit card offers in the marketplace. Content is not provided or commissioned by any credit card issuers. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information, though all credit card information is presented without warranty. When you click on any "Apply Now" button, the most up-to-date terms and conditions, rates, and fee information will be presented by the issuer.

EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE: The editorial content on this site is not provided by the companies whose products are featured. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, or evaluations provided here are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the Advertiser.

DISCLAIMER: All information posted to this site was accurate at the time of its initial publication. Efforts have been made to keep the content up to date and accurate. However, Credit Card Insider does not make any guarantees about the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. For complete details of any products mentioned, visit bank or issuer website.

Responses to comments are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.